In 2003, Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes released a “reboot” of the 70s classic horror movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The movie was co-produced by Tobe Hooper, the director of the original movie. It was directed by Marcus Nispel and starred Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour and Erica Leerhsen.

I’ve heard mostly good things about this reboot. However Rotten Tomatoes gives it less than 40%. I re-watched it recently for this review and I still say I enjoy it. I thought the set design and the tone of the film were perfect. Everything seemed grungy and dirty. The Chainsaw family were fairly creepy and scary. The house they lived in was horrifying. I just loved the “look and feel” of this movie.

As for the cast, they were okay. Easily the standouts were Jessica Biel as Erin and R Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt. But Mike Vogel as Morgan was good as well. Not only did Biel look pretty hot in her midriff showing top, but she actually believably played her character. And Ermey was wickedly dark and funny as the sheriff. The scene in which he wraps up a dead body’s head in cellophane in the back of the van is amazing. As is his interrogation of the character Morgan in the van about said dead girl. It’s intense as hell and totally envelops you in the scene. Really well done.

Other things I liked about this movie, they got John Larroquette to return to do the bookend voice overs. I thought that was a nice touch. He delivered the prologue and epilogue very nicely. I enjoyed Leatherface. He was only a small part of the movie, but he was pretty good. Not the star of the show, but he wasn’t really the star of the original either. I like that you see some of the underbelly of the house. You can see where they store some of the “meat” as well as you can watch Leatherface prep a victim for skinning.

One thing I didn’t like? In one scene you get a glimpse of Harry Knowles’ head on Leatherface’s workbench. Not a big deal if you don’t know who he is, but if you do, it sticks out like a sore thumb and completely brings you out of the movie. Terrible choice by the filmakers. TERRIBLE.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this remake. I thought they modernized parts of the movie while still keeping a nice look and feel. It’s definitely a modern version of the 70s “look and feel”, but I enjoyed it. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the original 70s Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, so it’s probably no surprise that I was willing to accept this movie as it is.

Give it a shot, if you are open minded about it, I think you’ll like it.

Let’s take a look at another vintage Fangoria issue, this time featuring Leatherface. Here is the cover for Fangoria #57 from 1986.

The cover story promotes the impending release of Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.

It’s one of those “set visit” articles Fangoria did so well. It talks to Tobe Hooper and the cast and gives a good preview of what’s in store for the movie. It also talks to the makeup effects guys to give you an idea of what they were doing for the sequel.

This issue also featured a nice article with cool, color pics about Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.

This was also a nice “set visit” article featuring a preview of what’s to come for what would be the sixth installment of the Friday series.

One of the best things about being a fan of the movie maniacs is being able to dress up as them for Halloween. Let’s take a look at some of the costumes that exist for some of our favorite movie maniacs.

Back in 1987, Collegeville released a Freddy Krueger “smock” costume similar to the old Ben Cooper designs.

Throughout this very large flyer with tons of costumes, there are a plethora of zombies and super heroes, but only two movie maniacs. And I’m only talking about one of those maniacs this year. Check out in the upper right, costumes for Jason Voorhees and Chucky.

You don’t even see those costumes on the inside of the flyer, only on the cover. I’m surprised these two are featured. Remember, this flyer was in 2008. The Friday the 13th reboot wouldn’t happen until the following year and Chucky’s previous movie was in 2004. By contrast, Leatherface had his reboot prequel only two years prior, so of anyone, he should be on the cover. Just strange.

Next up is a current Party City flyer from 2012. Not surprisingly, the Avengers are all over this thing.

This flyer is a little better in that it has four movie maniacs. Three of which I’m covering this year. Here’s the full page of scary costumes.

The movie maniacs are mostly on the second row (Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers). You can also see Ghostface from Scream in the first row. Again, I’m surprised there isn’t a Leatherface costume.

Today I’m going to do another “mixed” article featuring all of the movie maniacs. So, let’s take a look at some vintage video games that feature the movie maniacs.

(Via AtariAge.com)
In 1983 Wizard Video Games released a Halloween game for the Atari 2600. It was based on the first Halloween movie by John Carpenter. In the game you play a babysitter trying to protect the children from Michael Myers.

(Via AtariAge.com)
Also in 1983, and also for the Atari 2600, Wizard Video Games released a video game based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In this game you take the role of Leatherface and try to murder as many people as you can while avoiding obstacles like fences and cow skulls. Yes, I agree, that sounds pretty awesome. Due to the violent nature, however, the game incited many protests and forced many store owners to put it behind the counter away from children. Despite this, I think it’s interesting that this is the only game I can think of where you take the role of the killer. I’m surprised that’s not done more today.

The first Friday the 13th video game was released in 1985 for the Commodore 64 and other computer systems. You play as a group of camp counselors protecting your campers from zombies and the occasional appearance of Jason. Screenshot courtesy of Giant Bomb.

There was a Friday the 13th video game released by LJN in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is famously considered one of the worst NES titles ever released. You have to love that box art, though. It’s gameplay is very similar to the 1985 computer game in that you control counselors who are protecting campers from zombies, crows, wolves and, of course, Jason.

The epic crossover was a 6 issue limited series written by James Kuhoric and Jeff Katz and drawn by Jason Craig. The awesome puzzle cover above for issue #1 was actually drawn by J Scott Campbell and Eric Powell. You can click it to see it bigger on Flickr.

This series was based on a script treatment written by Jeff Katz. The story served as a sequel to Freddy vs Jason as well as the Evil Dead series. However, I think the licensing for Ash fell through and the studios decided to go another way. So the story never went any further. However, Katz kept his treatment alive and actively campaigned to get it made into a comic book.

Will and Lori, from Freddy vs Jason, return to Crystal Lake to get closure and finish off Jason once and for all. However, Jason kills them. We learn that Freddy is trapped inside Jason’s mind and is using the image of Jason’s mother to convince him to find the Necronomicon and deliver it to Freddy. Freddy plans to use it to escape into the real world. Meanwhile, Ash is transferred to the Forest Green (formerly Crystal Lake) S-Mart and identifies the recent spate of disappearances and murders as the work of Deadites. Ash gathers the teenage crew of the S-Mart to confront Jason and a newly formed and fully powered Freddy. A bloodletting ensues. There’s even a scene in which Freddy resurrects all of Jason’s previous victims in order to stop him when he turns on Freddy. Pretty cool stuff.

I could see this being a worthy entry into the franchises. Again, this seems to be Freddy’s story in which Jason and Ash make appearances. I like how it was handled and it would have been fun to see this on the big screen. And the artwork was really good as well.

In 2009, Jeff Katz and James Kuhoric returned to write a sequel called Freddy vs Jason vs Ash: Nightmare Warriors.

The government resurrects Jason and Freddy looking to harness their supernatural abilities and the power of the Necronomicon to create an army of demonic soldiers. However, as you’d expect, the government can’t control them and they get loose. Ash forms a team to fight the monsters, known informally as the Nightmare Warriors. It includes former franchise characters Tommy Jarvis who appeared in Friday the 13th Parts 4-6 and Tina Shepard who appeared in part 7 and has telekinetic powers. Again, the story is fun and a definite horror fanboy’s dream. Lots of killing and HUGE epic fights. There’s also some subplots talking about how the original Freddy used the Necronomicon to become the dream being he is now. Very cool stuff. I highly recommend it.

In 1993, Topps acquired the Friday the 13th comic book license. Their first release was a comic adaptation of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. Then, in 1995, Topps released a crossover comic called Jason vs Leatherface.

The three issue miniseries featured the first meeting between Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The book was written by Nancy Collins and drawn by Jeff Butler.

The story is a little weird, as is how this comic is supposed to fit into the established chronology of either series. The story begins with Jason chained to the bottom of Crystal Lake where he was left after Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Jason is liberated by someone dredging the lake with the intent to drain it and build a corporate headquarters. The lake has been polluted with toxic waste by the company so the lake water is collected in giant steel containers and shipped by train to some disposal facility. However, en route, Jason escapes, gets off the train and starts killing people. He meets up with one of the members of the chainsaw family and is taken back to their house. At the house he joins the family for dinner and becomes friends with Leatherface. It’s a dysfunctional good time, but as always happens, there’s a disagreement, then a misunderstanding and so Jason and Leatherface actually fight. Jason winds up leaving and returning to Crystal Lake.

Like I said, it’s an odd story. And, also like I said, it doesn’t fit continuity. Since Jason begins this comic where he ended up at the end of Jason Lives, then the story should take place in the 90s. However, two of the family members Jason meets in Texas are “Hitchhiker” and “Cook”. The character “Hitchhiker” died in the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre which takes place in the 70s. The “Cook” character dies in the second Texas Chainsaw Massacre which happened in the 80s. Neither family member should have been alive when this comic happened. Another problem involves a flashback to Jason’s childhood. We see his father, Elias, who has only been mentioned in the Part VI novelization. We see Elias beat Jason and then Jason’s mother kills Elias to protect the child. That’s fine, I guess, but Elias calls Jason’s mother Doris for some reason when her name has been established since the first movie in 1980 as PAMELA. Weird. But I guess that just goes to prove that this is a horror “Elseworlds” tale.

I enjoyed this comic. The art was over the top and funny. Perfect for the story. The covers are really good, as you can see. It’s definitely a fun, interesting read. Give it a shot, but be prepared, because it’s a little on the goofy and weird side.